"Honour your father and mother. This is the first
commandment with a promise.”
(Ephesians 6:2)

How well do we treat our parents?

Demand is the driving force for supply of goods. The moral and behaviour
realms are not an exception. People are cutting all relations, moral
bindings, time tested beliefs, customs and traditions in the alter of
practicability. We are moving very close to the principle of singularity
(belief in human intelligence to create super intelligent artificial
human beings to compete with the creation of God). But the reality is
that we are losing and destroying the closely knit happy family life and
its happiness and sustenance. At same time, we are not attaining or
getting the benefits of practicability or the so called fruits of
singularity. This popular mood of dumping the parents is becoming highly
common in today's world. There is a difference between obeying and
honouring. To obey means to do as one is told. To honour means to
respect and love. The responsibility to honour parents is for life. No
one has the right to dodge it in any manner or reason whatsoever.

A 68 years old mother had been shut up in the
garage for four months by her son, Kwang Yan aged 43 and
daughter-in-law, Qi Tan aged 28 in Toronto after renting out her room.
She had been living in the freezing cold and now is in a critical
condition in the hospital. The couple have been arrested and put in
jail.

M.K. Gandhiji, the father of the nation, India,
has noted in his autobiography about an incident that made a great
impact in his life towards honouring his parents. He saw a picture in
which Shravana (a hero in the book “Shravana Pitribhakti Nataka” - a
story about shravana’s devotion to his parents) was carrying his blind
parents on his shoulders by means of slings on a pilgrimage. He writes,
“the agonised lament of the parents over Shravan’s death is still fresh
in my memory.” He decided that day he would also take care of his
parents. When he decided to go to Europe to study law, his mother told
him, “My son, you are going abroad, make sure that you never drink
alcohol, eat meat, or indulge in gambling.” He gave his promise to his
mother to abide by her wish and took a vow that he would never drink
alcohol, eat meat or resort to gambling .

”Then Jesus returned to Nazareth with his parents and was
obedient to them. And his mother stored all these things in her heart”
(Luke 2:51).

Prayer : Jesus, let us
love our parents in words and actions. We pray for all the parents who
are abandoned and dumped by their children. We pray for all the children
who are looking after their parents well. Please be the son to those
parents who are lonely as you were to your mother till your death on the
cross. All we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen